Background Problem solving is considered to be a central activity of engineering practice. While some studies have shown how various beliefs affect students' abilities to solve problems, studies are needed that explicitly examine the beliefs and assumptions students bring to the problem‐solving process. Purpose/Hypothesis The purpose of this qualitative research was to describe students' engineering problem‐solving processes and develop a conceptual model that illustrates students' beliefs about problem solving. Our research question was, What beliefs do students have about engineering problem solving? Design/Method We analyzed data from retrospective semistructured interviews carried out after a problem‐solving session. We interviewed nine engineering students about the processes they used to solve the problems and the assumptions and beliefs that guided their problem solving. We then used grounded theory to identify and analyze statements from the interviews and to develop a conceptual model of student beliefs. Results The resulting model has five major categories: the problem‐solving process itself, the role of classroom problems, the role of workplace problems, personal characteristics that affect problem solving, and resources that assist problem solving. Students identify a sharp distinction between classroom problems and workplace problems. Conclusions Our conceptual model provides an initial framework for understanding how students' beliefs affect their approaches to engineering problems. In contrast to stage models, our model shows that students' epistemic beliefs about problem solving are contextual. Future work is needed to understand the limits and extend the applicability of our model.

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Most applications of think-aloud protocols have been conducted from theoretical perspectives that prioritize knowledge that is predictable and controlled by the researchers. In this article, we present an augmented form of the think-aloud method in which we aim to gain situated and participant-generated knowledge. The context for our study is examination of the problemsolving processes used by engineering students. We illustrate how our adaptation of traditional think-aloud protocols provides insights into participants' thoughts and beliefs and how such thinkalouds can increase social scientists' understandings of complex phenomena such as learning or problem solving. In contrast to a typical focus on researcher-defined processes or an analysis of the products generated by students, our approach to think-aloud utilizes think-aloud procedures in combination with follow-up interviews to expand participants' perspectives and investigate their experiences more deeply. Keywords constructivism, problem solving, think-aloud methodologyThe fields of social research and qualitative research include various methodological and theoretical traditions, many of which have been developed in different disciplines (see e.g.

Background Textbooks play an important role in engineering education, influencing instructors' pedagogical approaches and providing much of the information students learn. Research has explored students' recollections of the roles that textbooks played in their educational experiences, but how students actually use textbooks remains largely unexplored.Purpose This phenomenological study describes engineering students' textbook use during problem-solving activities. This study directly examined how students employed a textbook in order to generate detailed descriptions of students' behaviors, approaches, and reflections regarding their actual problem-solving experiences.Method Ten senior materials engineering students (8 males and 2 females) were asked to think aloud while solving engineering problems. Follow-up retrospective interviews regarding the think aloud session were conducted to gain in-depth information on students' textbook use during the problem-solving activities.Results Students used the textbook primarily to find information related to problem constraints that were explicitly stated in the problem. Furthermore, textbook example problems exerted a strong influence on students' problem-solving processes. Students also reported limitations of the textbook, contrasting it to the diversity of resources available via the Internet. ConclusionsThis study provides insight into students' textbook use during engineering problem-solving activities. Students' limited application of the textbook during problem solving suggests that textbooks may not be serving their intended purposes.